May 28th Vogelsong v Karakawa - How to throw a match away

One can see why Lotte are currently at the bottom of the Pacific League. Even when winning they look ordinary. Vogelsong was in no trouble at all but proceeded to throw the match away (with a little help from Egusa). He is now under warning that his pitching performance must improve or else. He has not looked convincing in any of his starts. Okada must also share some of the blame as he kept Vogelsong in too long and should have replaced him sooner. Hirano picked up an injury to his right leg and had to leave the game in the first innings. It is too soon to say whether he will be out for a long time. Once again Lotte fans were impressive in their numbers - they are the only group of fans who can get large numbers into Koshien. It is a pity that seeing them one has the feeling that one has stumbled into a convention of village idiots. The chants are simplistic and really one could think that (like every other team) they could come up with tunes and decent songs. Their bouncing up and down also makes them look like they've all been plugged into the mains. Line scores

        1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 R  H E
Marines 0 0 0 2 2 1 0 0 0 5 15 0
Tigers  1 1 2 0 0 0 0 0 0 4  9 1

Starting lineups

1. Akahoshi (Centre)
2. Hirano (Second)
3. Arai (Third)
4. Kanemoto (Left)
5. Katsuragi (Right)
6. Toritani (Short)
7. Yano (Catcher)
8. Sekimoto (Third)
9. Vogelsong (Pitcher)

Marines
1. Nishioka (Short)
2. Nemoto (Second)
3. Satozaki (Catcher)
4. Saburo (Right)
5. Ohmatsu (Left)
6. Imae (Third)
7. Fukuura (First)
8. Hayakawa (Centre)
9. Karakawa (Pitcher)

Marines started with a Nemoto hit and he was able to steal second. However, Satozaki and Saburo both struck out to end the innings. Karakawa was the starter for the Marines and would not rise above the ordinary. He walked Hirano who was replaced by Fujimoto because of his damaged leg. Fujimoto made second on an Arai ground out and then Kanemoto hit to centre 1-0 Tigers. Katsuragi flew out and the innings was over. In the Marines second Imae hit and Hayakawa hit but by the time this happend there was only one out to get and Vogelsong duly got it - a Karakawa ground out. In the Tigers second Toritani led off with a three base hit. Next batter Noguchi hit to right - a blow which landed nicely inside the right baseline 2-0 Tigers. Sekimoto bunted him to second and then Vogelsong hit to put runners on first and third with one out. Akahoshi struck out and Fujimoto did nothing either. The Marines leadoff Nishioka hit but Nemoto flew out. Then Nishioka tried to steal second but Fujimoto had all the time in the world to tag him out. The Tigers third started with an Arai hit. Next Karakawa faced Kanemoto and the first pitch was slammed into the centre left Gaia for a home run 4-0 Tigers.

In the Marines fourth Saburo led off with a hit. He was followed by Ohmatsu. Vogelsong left one in the zone which Ohmatsu slammed into the right centre gaia for a home run 4-2 Tigers. This sort of thing happens but what happened next was an awesome display of poor pitching. Imae hit and advanced to second on a Fukuura ground out. Then Hayakawa hit and Marines ahd runners on first and third with one out. Kobe (pinch hitter) struck out and Nishioka flew out, Tigers still retained the lead. For the Tigers fourth Valentine switched pitchers to Kubo. He would show more wisdom than Okada who would stick with Vogelsong. Kubo retired the Tigers in order. At this point Vogelsong should have gone but he returned for the fifth. Nemoto led off with a three base hit and then Satozaki followed with a sacrifice fly 4-3 Tigers. Okada still had a chance and once again Vogelsong should have gone while the Tigers still retained the lead. Vogelsong stayed and dead balled Saburo. Then Ohmatsu hit - runners on first and second with one out. Next batter Imae hit - a timely 4-4 scores level. Finally Okada realised that he should remove Vogelsong and Egusa was summoned. He got the final two outs to finish the innings. Tigers fifth saw two consecutive hits by Kanemoto and Katsuragi but Kubo was equal to the challenge and no score resulted. Okada decided to keep Egusa in for the Marines sixth. Another mistake. Egusa gave up a hit to Nishioka, then one to Nemoto all with one out. The next batter, Satozaki also hit and Marines were ahead 5-4. Nemoto tried to go too far and was tagged out by Sekimoto and the final out was Saburo. Egusa should not have been asked to pitch the sixth. You felt at this stage the fight went out of the Tigers.

The Marines seventh started with a walk for Ohmatsu (pitcher Watanabe). He was bunted to second by Imae then Fukuura also walked. Hayakawa grounded out to move Ohmatsu to third. Hayakawa stole second and Marines had runners on second and third with two outs. Luckily the last batter was Kubo and struck out looking to end the innings. Tigers seventh was quiet - Kubo retiring the batters in order though with some wild pitches. Kubota pitched the Marines eighth and gave up a hit to Satozaki but that was all. Kawasaki took the Tigers eighth and retired the side in order. Kubota pitched the ninth. It had been raining all evening and by now was raining very heavily. You thought that the match would have been called but no. Anyway Kubota walked Fukuura but once again was able to keep the Marines under control and no score resulted. Tigers ninth was Ogino. He gave up a hit to Hiyama (pinch hitter). Shuta pinch ran for him and was bunted to second by Sekimoto. Ogino walked Akahoshi but by the time this happened there was only one more out to get, Fujimoto. Here you thought that Okada would use a pinch hitter as Fujimoto has not been hitting at all and this was a pressure situation. No and the first pitch he received Fujimoto lofted into space for a third flyout. Marines Victory.

Tigers had thrown the victory away. They had a 4-0 lead and had knocked out the Marines starting pitcher. They were comfortable and it was only because of their pitcher's meltdowns that the Marines got back into the match. All credit to the Marines though, once they got the lead they held onto it and fought hard for their victory.